The Players District, the area specifically created inside MICAM Milano dedicated to the world of outdoor and sports shoes, will be back at the forthcoming edition of the international trade show, to be held at the Fiera Milano from the 16th to the 19th of February 2020.

According to the trade show organizers, the Players District " is a clear reflection of market trends which indicate that the sports footwear segment is expanding rapidly". In the first nine months of 2019 Italian families, in fact, spent 3.4% more on this type of shoe compared with the same period in 2018, for a total of 750 million euros in value and 15.4 million pairs sold, +3.0%", as reported by Confindustria Moda - Italian Federation of Textiles, Fashion and Accessories. A further consolidation, therefore, following an increase of over 5% in both expenditure and quantity recorded at the end of 2018. Along with sneakers, the sports sector is the only one to show an increase in sales on the domestic market, which has been "undergoing a long period of stagnation".

Figures provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics regarding exports of Italian sports shoes revealed that in the first 9 months of 2019, Italy exported 11.8 million pairs, amounting in value to 645.4 million euros (an increase of 9.5% and 6.7% respectively). Saying this, Assocalzaturifici has set up this area both "to demonstrate the importance of this specific segment and provide manufacturers and buyers in the field with an exclusive area in which to do business".

At the September 2019 edition of Micam, when the Players District made its debut, sports shoes were amongst the products most dealt-in at the fair, attracting 8.5% of buyers’ attention (in particular, amongst the visitors interested in this type of product, 34% were looking for men’s sports shoes and 40% for women’s). Remaining in the field of sports and outdoor shoes, it is worth mentioning that 16% of interest in this segment was concentrated on “Trekking and outdoor footwear” (37% menswear and 37% womenswear).